Game (NEVER) Over
Background "Creepypastas" are short stories that are found all over the internet (wikis, YouTube, dedicated creepypasta sites) that are written in an attempt to scare the reader, having elements of horror, suspense, shock and/or gore. "Game (NEVER) Over" is a video game-themed creepypasta about a man who buys a game for his Sega Genesis, which strange things begin happening once he starts playing it. The Vectrex gets several mentions in the story as well. Story The story is written as a blog by a man named Jim Meriwether, a law firm employee who has, in essence, started his life over with a divorce, new place to live, a new blog, and a rare video game called FD Rescue Team that he bought at a resale shop for his Genesis. As a reward for unpacking two rooms’ worth of his things in his new house, Meriwether starts up his new blog and states his video game equipment is up when he needs a break from getting settled in. He begins playing Rescue Team the next day, suddenly realizing the game was owned by his older brother Dave, although he had somehow forgotten about it. He describes aspects of the gameplay (which is divided into four different stages) and one of the creepy denizens of the game known as a Flameoid. Things begin getting strange when, after a few days of playing, Meriwether thinks he sees a blank, skull-like face appearing on an object in the game. A roach also awakens him early during one morning, which, after he tries to scare it away from his Fire Rescue game, the roach seemed to mysteriously disintegrate, leaving a skull-shaped mark on the cartridge. The cartridge also seemed very hot when he pulled it out of his Genesis a few days later, and upon beating the game not long afterwards, a person that he had to rescue in the game (named Linda) appeared to have her face turn into a skull momentarily, plus the skull-like face that he saw earlier also reappeared elsewhere in the game. Later still, Meriwether visits Dave (who has suffered a mysterious, unexplainable case of brain damage), who lives with their mother. Dave began yelling in a panic when Meriwether showed him the game. Meriwether also found someone had burned the shape of a skull in his car while he was inside his mother’s house. He also spotted someone odd on the way back from reporting the incident to the police, who was very pale and seemed to have no face (although Meriwether was not able to get a good look at the person). The mysterious figure would also be spotted later running from Meriwether’s house, along with the visuals of Linda in the game becoming worse, and a friend of Meriwether’s refused to give the game a try when it was showed it to him. An Easter egg and special bonus in the game also had disturbing images, characters’ behaviors in the game changed, and Meriwether even had a nightmare about the game at one point. Also, somehow some disturbing comments appeared on Meriwether’s blog in regards to FD Rescue Team, yet he had never activated the comments. Finally, in the story’s climax, Meriwether had quit playing the game, then somehow woke up one morning to find that, not only was he sitting in front of the tv with the game running, but he also somehow went through almost an entire game without waking up. He was at the part in the game where he had to rescue Linda, but that area of the building was burned up (as the game was in regards to the player making their way through a burning building), with no sign of Linda anywhere. The pale, seemingly faceless person then appeared, warning Meriwether that the game had a cursed nature to it and that he would soon die. Meriwether turned off the game and armed himself, spotting the person outside of a window. Meriwether, in his last blog entry, stated that the whole ordeal was going to end, yet he still met his demise. Months later, a person who lived in the same city as Meriwether (identified only as to being "Bil Bo") visited his estate sale, purchasing all of Meriwether’s video game collection. With the very first entry of his blog, he mentioned the graphics problem in FD Rescue Team of a C. E. O.’s face in the game turning into a skull briefly, indicating the tragic events of the cartridge was continuing. Vectrex mentions The Vectrex gets several mentions in the piece, as Meriwether states in one entry that he has several of its homebrews. He also comments about a friend of his (only being identified as "Jess") nearly earning his first victory against Meriwether in a two player game of Sundance. A picture of a Vectrex running Space Frenzy accompanies this mention, with the caption referring to the dialog of the alien from the beginning of a game, calling it a "creature". An AtariVox+ with its cover off can also be seen in the photo. At the story’s climax, Meriwether quits playing FD Rescue Team, stating that he will go back to where he started over with the Vectrex, with Vecmania being his very first homebrew purchase for the system. He also stated that, unlike with how unsettling FD Rescue Team was becoming, Spike was a very harmless game, as Molly’s cries for help couldn’t be taken seriously due to her choppy delivery. VecSports Boxing also could not be taken very seriously, even as a beat 'em up, due to the pun of "Spike Tyson" in the game. At the end of the story, a new blog was started by Bil Bo, stating that he had been to Meriwether’s estate sale and purchased Meriwether’s entire game lot, which included his Vectrex and games. The very last commenter of the blog also stated he had a Vectrex. Trivia *There is a mention of a fictitious upcoming Vectrex game called Railgunner. This is a play on words of Tail Gunner, as the game disappeared from FURY’s site (who had announced it for quite some time) several months before Game (NEVER) Over was published. Tail Gunner Zero Hour has since been announced as to being an official title from FURY. *As of 2016, this is the only known Vectrex mention in a creepypasta to date. *Other video game platforms and characters that were mentioned in the story included the arcade and Sonic the Hedgehog (of Sega fame on multiple platforms). The Sega CD was also mentioned, one of which included a person who posted a comment on Bil Bo’s Boring Blahg at the end was named Willy Beamish (one of the Sega CD games). Meriwether also stated that he owned a Sega CD, Wii, some plug and play units, handhelds, PC games, a Sega 32X and an Atari 7800. *Author Darryl Benedict was also the founder of this wiki. He was also the very last person to comment at the end of the story, saying that he also owned a Sega Genesis and Vectrex (both true in real life). The photos of the Genesis and Shining in the Darkness game in the console, Space Frenzy and AtariVox+ that appear with the story are also his. Links Read story This article was featured from July - August, 2017. Category:Miscellaneous Vectrex